The invention relates to electric lamp and discharge devices having fluent material supply or flow directing means wherein a plasma is generated of the glow discharge type. The invention also relates to systems of electric lamp and discharge devices having discharge device load with fluent material supply to the discharge space wherein a plasma is generated.
Examples of analytical plasma generating systems are present in the background art, but problems exist minimizing the value of such instruments in the analytical chemistry field, particularly in the area of elemental analysis of solids. The plasma jet electric arc was described in 1957 [Scientific American, 197(2) 80, 1957], but the conditions in which this device is to be used is much different than for the present invention. The inductively coupled plasma was described in 1974 [Analytical Chemistry, 46(13), 1155A, 1974], and is the system presently accepted in the field of analytical chemistry. Both the plasma jet electric arc and the inductively coupled plasma are suited primarily for analysis of substances in solution and not for solids.
The present invention solves the problem of placing the analyte in solution by omitting this step and analyzing the solid material directly. The invention provides a much simpler, cheaper and easier to operate system.